Earth-moving firm seeks court order that Washington pay its bill
An earth-moving company from Fayette County is seeking a court order that would compel the City of Washington to pay a six-figure bill dating back several years.
Piccolomini Contractors Inc., an excavator based in Waltersburg, sued the city and its officials in 2014 over a project in Washington Park.
The city entered into a $468,956 contract with Piccolomini in July 2013 to dredge a pond – part of Catfish Creek stormwater management – that was to be completed by Dec. 31 of that year.
According to documents filed with the court, the work was fraught with delays for which Piccolomini blamed the city or its engineer.
Heavy equipment was not to interfere with the Pony League baseball tournament that summer at the park, Piccolomini said it was told.
An Observer-Reporter news story from the following spring reported piles of mud and silt covered a parking lot between two youth baseball fields, causing what were deemed to be safety hazards for both children and vehicles.
Piccolomini was miffed that the city dithered on whether to remove or retain trees in the path of an access road that had to be constructed and in determining the actual path of the road. The city, Piccolomini claimed, was also requiring it to pave the road with stone, which was not part of an 80-page contract.
A winter storm also kept Piccolomini from finishing the work before the year’s end, and Jan. 22, 2014, the city terminated the contract, citing default.
Faced with angry parents of Pony Leaguers, the city paid $16,500 to El Grande Industries Inc. of Monessen to remove mud, fix ruts and lay stone aggregate for traction.
Piccolomini, later in 2014, sued the city for $178,044 claiming breach of contract, non-payment and wrongful termination.
Court-ordered arbitration awarded the firm $144,713 plus interest last month, but in its filing a few weeks later against mayor and council members, Piccolomini stated in court documents it had not been paid and asked the court to order the city to pay up.
“It is the duty of (the city and its officials) to pay such judgment out of available funds appropriated for the purpose of paying the debts of the city or, in the absence of sufficient funds for such purpose, to levy sufficient tax on property and/or residents of the city,” Cornelius O’Brien, attorney for Piccolomini, wrote in his filing.
City solicitor Steve Toprani could not be reached for comment.